SOMM RECORDINGS is delighted to announce the debut recording of composer-pianist Iain Farrington's Art Deco Trio, featuring 15 new instrumental arrangements blending classical and jazz influences of songs by George Gershwin. In 2012, Farrington played piano in the London Olympic Games' opening ceremony in a comic performance of Chariots of Fire with Rowan Atkinson (as Mr. Bean) and the LSO conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. His Beethoveniana - a thrilling distillation of Beethoven's nine symphonies into a seven- minute piece for 323 BBC orchestra musicians, the BBC Singers and two dancers - was a highlight of the locked-down 2020 BBC Proms. Taking it's name from the defining style of the Gershwin era, the Art Deco Trio - Peter Sparks, Kyle Horch and Farrington - "mixes elegance and clean lines with the exuberance and bold colours" of it's distinctive signature. The album takes it's title from Farrington's "fantasia" on five Gershwin standards stamped through with infectious rhythmic energy and the most memorable of melodies. First heard in shorter form at the 2018 BBC Proms, Gershwinicity is a dazzling celebration of one the 20th century's most popular songwriters. The melody-filled material ranges from early hits such as I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise and The Man I Love to the late, lasting classics They All Laughed and Our Love is Here to Stay. Gershwin's stage masterpiece Porgy and Bess is represented by arrangements of Summertime and It Ain't Necessarily So, alongside Broadway favourites (The Man I Love, I Got Rhythm) and rarities (Fidgety Feet, I've Got a Crush on You).

Tracklist:

I Got Rhythm (From "Girl Crazy")
They All Laughed (From "Shall We Dance")
The Man I Love (From "Strike Up The Band")
Nice Work If You Can Get It (From "A Damsel In Distress")
Summertime (From "Porgy And Bess")
They Can't Take That Away From Me (From "Shall We Dance")
Fidgety Feet (From "Oh, Kay!")
Love Is Here To Stay (From "The Goldwyn Follies")
I'll Build A Stairway To Paradise (From "George White's Scandals")
Do It Again (From "The French Doll")
It Ain't Necessarily So (From "Porgy And Bess")
Someone To Watch Over Me (From "Oh, Kay!")
I've Got A Crush On You (From "Treasure Girl" & "Strike Up The Band")
But Not For Me (From "Girl Crazy")
Gershwinicity (After Gershwin)

UPC: 748871063129
Label: Somm Recordings
Release Date: 4.30.21
Format: CD

Gershwin / Art Deco Trio - Gershwinicity (CD)